Mbkskill



Patented 0013.28, 1890.

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0 W SUMMBRSKILL FIRE ALARM 0R FIRE AND HEAT INDICATOR.

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* UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES IVILLIAM SUMMERSKILL, OF HOCKLEY HEATH, ENGLAND.

FlRE-ALARM OR FIRE AN D H EAT lN DICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,441, dated October 28, 1890. Application filed July 15, 1890- Serial No. 358,811. (lie model.)

To all whont it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES WILLIAM SUM- MERSKILL, of Hockley Heath, England, a submay be made to come into metallic contact with the end of the screwed rod at any required temperature.

ject of the Queen of Great Britain, have in- I avail myself of the action described to 55 vented a certain new and Improved Fireproduce an alarm in the following manner: Alarm or Fire and Heat Indicator; and I do The conducting-wires from a voltaic battery hereby declare that the following is a full, or other source of an electric current are 0011- clear, and exact description of the invention, nected, respectively, to the axial rod and the which will enable others skilled in the art to screwed rod, the said rods being thus made 60 which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object, principally, to give an alarm when a fire occurs in a room or place where my said invention is fixed, but is also applicable to the giving of an alarm when the room or place where it is fixed attains a temperature exceeding the maximum temperature which it is desired the said room or place shall have.

My said invention consists of the following construction and arrangement of parts: I take a flat closed chamber or vessel made of thin elastic sheet metal or alloy, filled with air or other elastic fluid, the said chamber being preferably circular and having one or both of its sides corrugated with circular concentric corrugations. To the center of the corrugated side, or one of the corrugated sides, of the said flat closed metallic chamber and at right angles thereto I fix a metallic rod, the said rod being in the line of the axis of the chamber. In line with the said rod is another adjustable metallic rod capable of approaching to or receding from the first-named rod by a screwing motion. I will call this rod the screwed rod. The parts described are supported by a framing, the screwed rod being electrically insulated from the closed metallic chamber and its axial rod. The said chamber is supported at its periphery. WVhen the parts are at an ordinary temperature, the

end of the screwed rod is not in contact with the end of the axial rod of the closed chamber. hen, however, an abnormal temperature in the room or place where the instrument is situated is attained, the air in the closed chamber is expanded, the side or sides of the said chamber become bulged, and the axial rod thereby moved toward the screwed rod, and by the adjustment of the screwed rod the end of the axial rod of the chamber the respecti e electrodes of the voltaic battery. hen the instrument is at ordinary temperatures, these electrodes are separated from each other. W'hen, however, the chamber is sufficiently heated to advance the axial rod so far as to bring its end into electrical contact with the screwed rod, the electric circuit is completed and an electric current flows through the wires and parts forming the completed circuit. In this circuit is an electromagnet, which is excited on the completion of the current, and the said magnet acting on an armature may be made to ring a bell or put into operation signals of various kinds, as is well understood.

I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the manner in which my invention is to be performed.

Figure 1 represents in front elevation, Fig. 2 in. side elevation, and Fig. 3 in back elevationfa fire-alarm or fire and heat indicator the parts of which are constructed and arranged according to myinvention. Fig. a represents a cross-section of the same taken on the line a a of Fig. 2, and Figs. 5 and 6 represent cross-sections of the same taken in a plane at right angles to that in which the section Fig. 4 is taken. The section Fig. 5 is taken on the line b 1), Figs. 1 and l, through one of the terminals, and the section Fig. 6 is taken on the line 0 0, Figs. 1 andat, through the other terminal. Fig. 7 represents a modified arrangement of the dialand pointer.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

dis the circular wooden framing supporting the several parts of the apparatus, and e e are the fiat closed chambers or vessels, made of thin elastic metal or alloy, filled with air, the said chambers c ebeing soldered together at their centers, the sides of the said chambers being corrugated with concentric corrugations, as represented. Instead of two closed chambers a single chamber, or more than two chambers, may be used, and when two or more chambers are used they need not open into one another, but constitute independent chambers.

f is ametal casing or box soldered to the edge of the outer chamber, and the said casing f is secured by screws to the ebonite disk 9 within the casing d. The ebonite disk is made in two pieces with distance tubes or pillows between them.

In the line of the axis of the two chambers cc and on the inner chamber a metallic rod h is fixed, which rod as the chambers expand is moved inward or in the direction of the back of the apparatus.

is the adjustable metallic rod, situated in the line of the axial metallic rod h, carried by the chambers e 6. This second or screwed rod it works in a screwed hole in the axis of the ebonite disk 9, so that the said screwed rod is electrically insulated from the closed metallic chambers e e and their rod 72. The rear end of the screwed rod It carries apointer orindex-finger. Z, which traverses the circular graduated dial or scale represented at the back of the apparatus. By turning the said screwed rod is by its pointer Z, the adj ustment' of its inner end nearer to or farther from the metallic rod h, so as to bring the apparatus into operation at any required temperature, can be effected, the position of the screwed rod being indicated by the position of the pointer Z on the graduated dial or scalethat is to say, if the apparatus is required to be brought into operation when the room or place in which it is used attains a temperature of 100 Fahrenheit, the screwed rod 70 has the position with respect to the axial rod h represented.

Should the apparatus be required to be brought into operation when the room or place attains a higher or lower temperature than that supposed, the pointer Zis turned on the dial or scale to the right or left and brought opposite the required figures on the scale, so as thereby to increase or diminish the distance between the end of the adjustable screwed rod is and the axial rod h on the closed chambers. Thus by driving home the screwed rod 70 more orless the apparatus may be adjusted with the greatest nicety to give an alarm at any required temperature in the manner hereinafter described.

When the apparatus is fixed with its back against a wall or other surface, as hereinafter described, the dial and pointer are protected and cannot be tampered with without removing the apparatus; or, the dial may be arranged on the periphery of the outer casing d, and the end of the pointer Z be bent at right angles to work over the said periphery, as represented in Fig. 7. I prefer, however, the first-described arrangement of the dial and pointer.

On the supporting-framing d of the apparatus are two terminals m p, to which the conducting-wires from a voltaic battery or other source of an electric current are connected, and the two terminals m p are connected, respectively, to the axial rod h and the screwed rod is in the following manner: The way in which the axial rod h is connected to the terminal on is seen in Fig. 5. The metallic casing) of the chambers is connected in part to the insulating-disk gby the long screw q. To the inner end of the said screw q a connecting-wire ris secured, which wire passes through the outer supportingframing d and is connected to the terminal m. The manner in which the screwed rod 70 is connected to the other terminal 19 is seen in Figs. 4. and 6. On the adjustable screw k is a disk to which one end of the spring-connecting wire s is soldered, the said disk having an axial screwed hole in which the screw 70 works, as shown. The said spring-wire s is bent in the manner seen in Fig. 4, and its upper end bears against the screw-pin t. A second and thin wire to is fixed to the pin 15, and passing through the framingd is secured to the screw of the terminal 19. The two rods h 7.". are thus made the respective electrodes of the voltaic battery or other source of an electric current. disk to which the spring-wiresis solderedfor establishing an electrical continuity with the I Instead of employing the practicable the metallic connections or junc-' tions described and represented in the electric circuit are perfected by being soldered.

The action of my new or improved firealarm or fire and heat indicator is as follows: When the instrument is at ordinary temperature, the ends h k of the electrodes of the voltaic battery are separated from each other, as represented in Figs. 5 and 6. Should the room or place in which the apparatus issituated become sufficiently heated, the closed 'metallic chambers e e expand by the expansion of the air in them, and their corrugated sides become bulged, and the axial rod h is so far advanced as to bring its end into electrical contact with the end of the screwed rod is. The electric circuit is thereby completed and a voltaic or electric current flows through the said rods h and k and their connections and the wires joined to the terminals n and p, forming the completed circuit. In this circuit is an electro-magnet, which is excited on the completion of the circuit, and the said magnet acting on an armature may be made to ring a bell or put into operation signals of various kinds. In this way an alarm is given when the room or place where the apparatus is fixed attains a temperature higher than that which it is desired the said room or place shall have.

In order to prevent any failure by corrosion or oxidation of electrical contact between the ends of the rod h and screw it, I tip or coat the said ends with gold or platinum or other metal or alloy which does not oxidize by exposure to the air, and as the contact-points are in a practically air-tight chamber they are prevented from being coated with any deposit from the air which might impair their efficiency. By these means the passage of an electric current is secured whenever the end of the rod h is brought into contact with the end of the rod Zc.

In fixing myinvention in the room or place where it is to be used, it may be attached to any wall or surface by. means of the ear a: at the top of the frame, as represented in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the said ear having a hole in it through which a screw or nail may be passed.

I prefer to employ the instrument or apparatus constituting my invention in pairs, so that if by accident or otherwise one of the instruments shall become disabled the other may give the required signal in the manner hereinbefore described. I also consider it a desirable precaution to examine or test the instruments at regular interval-ssay of a week or a month-in order to ascertain if they are in working order.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my inventi0n- In a thermostat, the combination of the inclosingcasing cl, the air-tight expansible chambers e, the contact-rod h thereon, the screwed rod is, in axial line with the rod h, the terminals m 19, one connected with the chambers e and the other with a screw t in the casing, a disk in threaded engagement with the rod is, and a spring-arm s, soldered to said disk and bearing against the screw i, all operating substantially as described.

CHARLES WILLIAM SUHMERSKILL. [[1, s]

Witnesses:

RICHARD SKERRETT, WILLIAM 'loNKs. 

